One of the complicating factors regarding what happened at Lora, which is now largely deserted, according to the Times, is that the Horn of Panjwaii had largely been under Taliban control for nearly two years until a joint Afghan-NATO operation recaptured much of it last week.

He drew 'Lora's note from his vest with a gesture of reverent tenderness, as though he loved the very paper his friend had touched, and were something loath to part with it to such indifferent hands and eyes as these.

He lay motionless upon the white draped bed, a hero slain in the hour of his triumph, with broad chivalrous brows and tranquil lips, whence speech had fled for ever, grand and serene in the repose of a sleep that, like 'Lora's, had borne him away into peace.